Threshers’ Reunion well-attended despite mud from weeks of rain

DENTON, N.C. — Two weeks of near-daily rain in the Piedmont made a muddy mess at Denton Farm Park, but that didn’t stop hundreds of folks from enjoying the Southeastern Old Threshers’ Reunion.

Besides, what better place to get stuck in the mud than where a thousand or so tractors are just sitting around being looked at?

Tony Cook, who was on stuck-truck duty Friday, said he’d lost count of how many cars and trucks he’d helped tow out of the wet, brown bog that used to be a parking lot

“There’s no telling. There’s a lot,” Cook said. “There’s about four or five of us that do whatever we can do. We’ve pushed them. We’ve put four guys behind these little cars and pushed ‘em because there’s nowhere to hook a chain.”

Denton Farm Park has hosted the event since it began. Its owner Brown Lofflin says except for Tuesday, they’ve been as busy as ever despite the rain.

“Last year we had the worst heat that we ever had. This year we had the worst rain that we’ve ever had. Haven’t heard the first complaint,” Lofflin said.

Lofflin says he had 38 truckloads of rock dropped around the farm park to try to avoid the mess, but all the rain brought it anyway.

The backup plan was a team of men like Cook with golf carts and tractors ready to help out whoever needed a pull.

“I can’t think of a better place in the world [to get stuck], and if they get stuck, we’ll pull ‘em out,” Lofflin said.